TO PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON VOLUNTARILY RETURNING AT LEAST 3/4 OF THE EMBEZZLED PROPERTY OR TAKEN BRIBES
On December 31, 2020, the Council of Justices of the Supreme People's Court issues the Resolution No. 03/2020/NQ-HDTP on guidelines for application of a number of provisions of the Penal Code in trial of corruption and other position-related offenses.
Specifically, voluntarily returning at least three-quarters of the embezzled property or taken bribes means the case where an offender has voluntarily returned at least three-quarters of the embezzled property or taken bribes after committing the crimes. It is also considered as voluntarily returning at least three-quarters of the embezzled property or taken bribes in the cases where an offender after committing the crimes has influenced his/her father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, or other relatives to surrender, or does object to that his/her parents, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, or other relatives return at least three-quarters of the property embezzled, or bribes taken by him/her.
Besides, in the course of the proceedings, an offender embezzling property or taking a bribe, who has voluntarily returned at least three-quarters of the embezzled property or taken bribes shall not be applied the heaviest penalty in the penalty bracket for the crime he/she is prosecuted or adjudicated for.
In case a case is separated for handling in different stages (into multiple cases), the penal liability shall be considered and the penalty shall be decided as follows: The fact that the offender has been convicted in the previous case shall not be considered as “committing the offense twice or more”, unless the offenses considered and examined for penal liability in the stages are independent of each other; The fact that the offender has been convicted in the previous case shall not be considered as having a bad personal record in order not to suspend the execution of his/her sentence; etc.
This Resolution takes effect on February 15, 2021.
